Environment - responsible growth of Heathrow

Economic importance of Heathrow

Heathrow plays a critical role in ensuring that the UK competes effectively in the global marketplace and reaps the benefits which flow from international trade.

• As an island nation air links are vital to the UK's economic success.
• Aviation contributes £11 billion a year to the UK economy and supports 700,000 jobs.
• The airport supports over 100,000 jobs directly or indirectly.
• British Airways provides an estimated 32,000 jobs in the Heathrow area.
• A third runway would generate £7 billion per year in national economic benefits.
• Without expansion, UK businesses dependent on reaching global customers may consider relocating abroad.

Competition to remain Europe's main airport

• Nearly one in three passengers travelling to or from the UK use Heathrow airport.
• 71% of longhaul business passengers arriving in or departing from the UK use Heathrow airport.
• Heathrow has only two runways – the same number as when it opened more than 60 years ago – whereas other European hubs have many more e.g. Amsterdam (five), Paris and Madrid (four). Frankfurt also has planning permission to build a fourth new runway that will be operational by 2011.
• A third runway would allow Heathrow to offer up to 75 new destinations. Delays would be cut and the gains in efficiency made permanent.

Heathrow's declining reach

Without a hub airport with a world–class network, London will lose its position as a world business capital – and the UK regions will struggle to attract inward investment.

Heathrow's global reach has declined from 227 destinations in 1990 to 180 today. In that same time, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam have all increased their route networks to more than 250 destinations.

Reducing delays through mixed mode usage

We support the introduction of mixed mode operations at Heathrow.

The best way to reduce delays, cancellations and queues at Heathrow is to give the airport more runway capacity. One way to increase capacity and make flight times more reliable is allow aircraft to take-off and land on the same runway.

Mixed mode runway usage would:

• reduce average peak time delays from 25 minutes to 10 minutes
• reduce stacking before landing and queuing of aircraft on the ground
• save significant amounts of CO2 emissions a year
• generate an additional £2.5 billion per year in national economic benefits
• provide an estimated extra £35 billion in total economic benefits by 2030

Social benefits of future expansion

Local employment would benefit from Heathrow expansion.

Areas in the Heathrow City Partnership such as West Drayton and Southall, Feltham and Hounslow would be able to generate some of the 45,000 new jobs needed in the next 10-15 years. This target was set by the Mayor's London Plan and by the London Development Agency.

Consultation on the future of Heathrow and find out more

At the end of February 2008 the Government consultation into the future development of Heathrow airport closed. As well as considering the case for a short, third runway it sought views on changing Heathrow's two runways to mixed mode operations.

We made the case that a third runway and mixed mode operations at Heathrow are essential to the future success of the London and UK economy. We also showed how changes to our operating procedures at Heathrow, and the benefits of our future aircraft purchases would help to enable responsible growth within the environmental limits set by the Government.

Read questions and answers from the Heathrow consultation.

Download the BA Heathrow consultation response (PDF, 156 KB)

Visit the Future Heathrow website